Freedom vs. Big Government: Palin Can't Do the Math

The political news of the day is John McCain's new stump speech. But there was an interesting Sarah Palin moment, as well.

Introducing McCain at the Virginia Beach rally where he unveiled his I-will-fight-fight-fight-fight speech, Palin, playing to the GOP base, declared that she and McCain believe in the "advancement of freedom," not the "expansion of government."

This is conservative cant: big government threatens individual freedoms. Think black helicopters coming to take your guns away. But has Palin not been reading the news about her own campaign? Her ticket supports the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan, which will give the Treasury secretary expanded power. And McCain has called on the federal government to buy up bad mortgages across the country, at a cost of $300 billion or so. The math is kind of simple here: that's about $1 trillion in government expansion.

The question for Governor Palin is, does that mean $1 trillion less in freedom?